


A Pale Red

by whisperingink



Category: Homestuck
Genre: I suppose, matespurrits, redrom meowrails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperingink/pseuds/whisperingink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He realized how compact she was. She had to have been at least two heads shorter than him, maybe half his weight. So tiny, so lowblooded, but so aggravatingly...lovely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pale Red

Equius soon realized what a compact girl Nepeta was after she moved into his hive. A cave in, the death of her lusus…what kind of a moirail would he be if he didn’t so graciously invite her to stay with him? Even if Aurthour was no longer around, he still considered himself to be a good host, one befitting of his blood color. He could see the hesitation in her big eyes  after he offered to let her stay with him, in the way she sucked her bottom lip and nibbled it with her sharp teeth. But, she soon recovered and joyously responded “Equius! You’re the most purrfect meowrail in the world!” She ended her statement with a hug that he knew he couldn’t reciprocate. That is, until the day he forgot. 

He grew so used to her presence, and, while Nepeta was already a very brazen girl around him before moving in (refusing to act according to her still somewhat-respectable olive blood, such as hunting noble beasts, swearing, and many other uncouth things), she’d become even bolder after living with him for a few weeks. Often, she would drape herself across his lap, happily sketching her own silly ships while he carefully designed new robots. That was when he realized how compact she was. She had to have been at least two heads shorter than him…maybe half his weight. So tiny, so lowblooded, but so aggravatingly  _lovely_. After he insisted that she bathe on a regular basis, her dark hair elegantly brushed the tops of her delicate green-flushed shoulders, and her thick lashes highlighted the smattering of olive freckles across her dainty, meowbeast-esque nose. She did not possess the generous curves of Aradia, but was all compact, lithe muscle, with slender curves that did alert the viewer that she was, in fact, female. Nepeta’s appearance stressed him more than he cared to admit. 

“Equius,” she murmured sleepily one lazy, warm afternoon as she leaned against him on the couch, nursing at a sweet drink while doodling in a sketchbook he had procured for her earlier (after all, he couldn’t have her drawing on the walls anymore), “I can leave whenever you want me to. Terezi told me that some hives that opened up near her.” Equius almost jumped in his seat, but was careful to not accidentally punt his moirail across the room. 

“Why on Alternia would you think I’d want you to leave?” he asked, as if her question was the stupidest thing she could’ve asked. Nepeta pursed her lips, crossing her arms and curling into a ball. 

“Because I know it’s not all purroper and stuff for meowrails to live together like this! A-And I don’t want to be some purrden…just because Pounce died,” she sniffed, wiping at her nose with her sleeve in the way she knew he hated, “Besides, I’m purrobably keeping you from bringing someone back here….like Aradia, or Gamzee, or someone else you want.” His eyes went wide as he shook his head, taking care to not touch her.  _I can’t bruise her now_ , he reminded himself,  _that wouldn’t do at all_.  

“Nepeta, I don’t know how I managed to make you think that I want you to leave,” he started, trying to gently brush her dark hair out of her face without upsetting her cute blue meowbeast hat, “But I…I don’t want anyone else but you to stay with me in this hive. You should know that. And I don’t know what neighsayers think, but there is nothing improper about one moirail sleeping in another moirail’s hive!” He stopped himself, aware he was getting too impassioned about his feelings, but he didn’t have another second to calm himself before Nepeta leapt at him.

With a fierce, determined look in her big eyes that Equius recognized as an expression she wore right before talking to Karkat, she climbed into his lap, put her tiny hands on either side of his face, and pressed her lips to his. He froze beneath her touch. Nepeta. Kissing. Moirail. Kissing. Improper. So. Very. Improper. The pale bond was sacred, it was not meant to be sexual, violated in any way. But…he could feel her smiling into the kiss, and he loved when he could make her smile. Her tiny body pressed against his as she deepened the kiss, flushing as warm as she could. Red flooded his vision as he eagerly returned the kiss, forgetting himself for the briefest moment as he wrapped his arms around her waist to draw her even closer, the only thought in his head being that he wanted more of the strangest troll he’d ever met. 

Then he heard a snapping noise.

Nepeta didn’t scream. He never heard her scream, not even when being attacked by beasts.

Instead she made a gasping, “Oh!” before crumpling like a ragdoll, falling to the floor with shock written on her olive-flushed face. 

He could hear himself shouting, screaming for a lusus he knew he didn’t have. He could feel himself having an out of body experience. Equius didn’t register picking Nepeta up more gently than he ever thought possible, he didn’t register racing to his workshop where prototypes lay scattered all over the floor, and he didn’t register the clattering noises he made when he practically destroyed half the room looking for the proper pieces. 

All he registered was the sound she made. Small whimpers, murmurs of his name as her eyelids fluttered.  _She can’t die_ , he thought, grabbing the special tools he kept in his laboratory as he gently placed Nepeta on his work table, turning her over onto her stomach.

“Equius,” she whispered, sounding more frightened than she ever had before

“Quiet, Nepeta,” he said, sweat dripping from his forehead, sweat dripping everywhere as he shakily removed her clothing so her back was exposed to him. The bone….it was almost sticking out. “I do apologize,” he whispered before cutting in. He worried he’d have to block out her screams, as there was no way he could work with the fear he could be killing his moirail working through his system. Nepeta didn’t scream though. She clenched her tiny fists and stayed as still as possible as Equius performed an operation he’d only done once before. 

This time though, he’d do it better. The best. Perfect, for Nepeta, with something special for an equally special girl. 

She’d fallen unconscious halfway through the operation, and Equius was grateful for that. He was worried she would have to live with the memory of the full trauma. But, as he tied off the final stitch and stood back to look at his handiwork, he felt relief that he seemed to have fixed his mess, just this once. 

Her eyelids fluttered open, dark circles beneath her haggard eyes as she looked up at Equis. “I…” she started, looking confused as she glanced around the workshop before realizing that she was mostly naked and on an operating table. With a yelp, she moved to cover herself; Equius tossed a stray blanket at her. Then, she returned her gaze to Equius, “I thought…” she started, before freezing. Nepeta turned to look over her shoulder. There, implanted in her back, was a new mechanical spine, with a little something extra Equius knew she would like. A blue tail stuck out where her spine ended, swishing about, connected to her nerves. 

“You fixed me,” she said, staring in awe at her new tail before gently reaching out to brush it, wincing as she moved. Undoubtedly, she was still in great pain from the procedure, but her face still lit up when she brushed her newest bionic feature.

“I’d broken you,” Equius said, gravely looking down at his olive-stained hands. Nepeta shook her head, beckoning him to come next to her. She stretching up to wipe sweat from his brow, smiling sweetly as her tail twitched.

“Not possible for such a good meowrail,” she said, pecking him on the cheek, “You’re always going to be here to fix me.” 

 


End file.
